by Saxon Andrew
• • •
Later that evening, Erica sat close to Essay in the double swing on their front porch and sighed. Essay was holding Penny rubbing her legs and said, “What?”
“What do you mean?”
“You have an expression that I know when you’re not telling me something.”
Erica slowly shook her head and held up a finger, “I cut my index finger preparing dinner when I was slicing bread.”
Essay’s eyes narrowed, “I haven’t notice you wearing a band aid.”
Erica sat up straight and Penny flipped over in Essay’s lap and the little ball went around and stared at Erica. “Trust me on this, Essay. The cut required much more than a band aid.” Essay stared at her and Erica slowly shook her head, “I watched the cut close and heal in front of my eyes.” Erica held up her index finger and said, “I can’t tell where it happened now.”
The little ball rolled around and looked at Essay. Essay sighed, “I guess that’s another benefit of bringing Penny into our lives.” Penny flipped over and presented her legs to Essay. He snickered and started rubbing her again.
Erica stared at them and then snuggled close, “I guess.”
• • •
Erica was supervising the loading crew as they took boxes of stores on board the Prophet’s Eyes. She told the foreman where she wanted the perishables and saw Admiral Amy Hart walking across the tarmac. She came to attention and saluted as Amy smiled, “Forget it, Erica. I came here to see your companion.”
“Sir?”
“Timmy didn’t tell me but Steve did. He pretty much shares everything with me.” Amy leaned in and whispered as she looked away, “I think he’s planning for me to eventually take his place.” She straightened up and smiled, “Where is Penny?” Erica looked Amy in the eyes and nodded over her shoulder. Amy looked behind Erica and she saw the little disk hiding behind her legs. Amy laughed, “My, aren’t you the shy one.” She bent down and rubbed Penny’s top as she said, “Thank you for what you did for my son. I will be forever grateful for it.”
Penny’s eye moved around and stared at Amy. Amy tilted her head and Erica said, “That’s how she looks at things.”
Amy laughed, “Well, she is a beauty. And thank you for healing Admiral Connor as well. We all depend on him more than he knows.” Erica’s eyebrows came together and Amy quickly said, “Don’t worry. Penny will remain a secret.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
“I wish I had a Penny.” Amy hugged Erica and walked away.
Essay walked up and said, “What was that about?”
“She came to thank Penny for healing Timmy and Steve.”
“She knows!?”
“Don’t worry. She promised that it will remain a secret.”
“Are you ready to leave?”
“The loading crew is just about finished with the provisions. Once they’re done, we can shove off.”
Essay smiled, “It’ll be good to get back out in the wild, wild, universe.”
“Tell me about it. By the way, the Engineers have updated Poul’s telepathy modules. He can block Kamela’s mind from other telepaths if needed.”
“Good. I wondered why those units were removed.”
Erica shrugged, “The Prophet had left and there was no need for them.”
“There was always the Bosrean, Erica.”
“Yeah, but they didn’t fly the Eyes. The telepathy units were removed to make space for the new computers linked to his central processor. ”
The Foreman walked off the ship and said, “Your stores are all put away. Have a good voyage.”
Essay nodded, “Thank you.” He looked at Erica, “Let’s go!”
Erica turned and ran up the ramp, “Last one in cooks the first meal!”
Essay passed her halfway up. She tried to grab him but he ran through the port before she could. “Let me see, I’ll have potatoes…”
She punched him on the arm, “You cheated!”
“I cheated! You’re the one…”
Erica ran up the corridor yelling, “Last one to the bridge cleans up!”
Essay started to run after her and then just shook his head. She was too far up the corridor for him to catch her and there was no room to pass in the narrow corridor. He laughed and walked leisurely to the bridge, where he found Erica powering up her control panel and smiling broadly. He looked up and said, “Poul, take us back to the Flasher’s Main Galaxy.”
“What route do you want to take?”
“The shortest. We’ve wasted too much time at home and need to find out what’s going on in Flasherland.”
“Cute. You should probably activate your armor. We’ll be traveling through their sentries on the way.”
Essay nodded and looked at Kamela as his body armor wrapped around him, “Have you tried out Poul’s thought blocking module?”
“I have and it works much better than the Bosrean blocker.”
“I intend to go and take a look at the civilizations threatening the Flashers on this mission.”
Kamela smiled, “I’m also curious about them.”
Essay sat back in his command chair and stared out of the forward viewport as the Stardrive spooled up and went to high frequency. The stars that initially looked like streaks passing by outside their viewport became sparks that flew past too fast to really see. They were out of the Milky Way and moving close to Andromeda in one of the fastest times he’d seen to date. “Poul, is you speed higher than before?”
“While you were visiting, the maintenance crews installed an additional DE Reactor. It has greatly increased my top speed.”
“I can see that.” Essay sat back and watched the blackness of intergalactic space close in around the Eyes and Andromeda was visibly growing. This shouldn’t take long.
Poul replied, “About half the time it took us last time.” Essay’s head jerked up and Poul smugly said, “That’s right. I’m telepathic again. I heard what you were thinking.” Essay lowered his head and shook it. A telepathic ship’s computer. What would they come up with next? “I’ll watch myself, Essay and respect your privacy.”
“Thank you, Poul.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Kamela looked at Erica, “I think the little one is agitated.”
Eric looked down and saw Penny shaking. What was wrong with her? She reached down and rubbed her and after a few moments she settled down. But, she wasn’t bumping up against her boot. Something was agitating her. Erica looked at Kamela and she lifted her hands and shrugged as she thought, “I have no idea.”
Erica went back to watching her monitors and glanced at Penny periodically. She wasn’t growing calmer. She’d just have to wait and see what happened. Penny was worried about something and that bothered her…a lot. The Prophet’s Eyes flashed through the second black hole and turned toward the distant Flasher Galaxy. Essay wanted to go to the Ruling Planet first to see if Kamela could hear what they were planning. They arrived high above the star system the Flasher main planet was in and parked just inside Kamela’s telepathic range. She closed her eyes and Erica watched her closely. Penny was acting the same so whatever was bothering her was not an issue…yet.
Chapter Eleven
“Kamela, have you heard anything of interest?”
Kamela opened her eyes, “I’ve been listening to the thoughts of the recently promoted Flasher, Essay. It appears he has authorized their construction facilities to put an additional force field inside the gravity force field. The additional field will be powered by a series of fusion reactors and will be like a traditional energy force field.”
“Do you think the two can stop a DE Missile?”
“I have no idea and it appears they don’t either. I think they’re working in the dark due to their lack of data on how we destroyed those Flasher Warships.”
Essay nodded, “I’m sorry for interrupting you. I guess the only way to find out is to fire one at one of their vessels with the double force field.” Kamela nodded a
nd closed her eyes.
Erica looked up, “I have a Flasher Warship headed toward the planet two light years off our starboard side.”
Essay nodded. It was outside its scanner range and could not detect them from that far out.
“I HAVE THOUSANDS OF THOSE BROWN GLOBS SURROUNDING US AND THOUSANDS MORE ARE APPEARING EVERY SECOND!!”
Essay’s eyes widened as Erica shouted, “The incoming warship has reported them to the planet!!” Erica looked down at Penny and saw the small ball moving around her top edge at high speed. This is what was bothering her!
She heard Kamela say, “The Globs have been reported to the planet and they’re launching a thousand warships to drive them away. They have to suspect that something here has attracted them!”
Essay yelled, “POUL, GET US OUT OF HERE!!” Essay heard the stardrive spool up and the Prophet’s Eyes flew away from the galaxy at an incredible speed but the tens of thousands of dark brown space creatures remained just outside their hull and more were appearing as they fled. The galaxy disappeared in the distance and Essay shouted, “Stop the ship, Poul!!”
“But…”
“You can’t outrun them and if we hit one them at this speed, it’s over!”
The Eyes came to a stop and the mass of space creatures began moving quickly around the hull. “They’re inside the Dark Energy Force Field. It apparently doesn’t stop them.”
Erica bent down and saw Penny shaking and knocking her edges on the deck. She saw that Penny was terrified and she stood up and yelled, “LEAVE HER ALONE!!!” Suddenly, the dark creatures around the hull stopped moving closer and came to a stop.
Kamela looked at Erica and said, “I think you surprised them.”
“What?”
“I can’t understand their thoughts. They communicate on an entirely different pattern from any other species I’ve ever heard. But I think they understood you.”
Poul said over the wall speaker, “I can’t understand them, either. But I think I’m getting the gist of what they’re saying,” The three looked up at the wall speaker and Poul continued, “You were right, Erica. When Essay picked up Penny and brought her on board, she was a baby. If I’m getting this right, the young of this species bonds with an Adult and takes all of its wisdom and knowledge in the bonding. Penny didn’t bond with one of them but bonded with you instead. They want their baby back.” Erica opened her mouth to speak and Poul quickly said, “It’s not as simple as sending her out to them.”
Essay said, “Why not?”
“Because Penny is refusing to go.”
Erica looked down at Penny and saw her pushed up hard against her armored boot. Erica sighed and picked her up, “Penny, you should be with your family.”
“She says you are her family.”
“Then you have to convince those outside that you are. I cannot take you away from those that love you without permission.” Penny’s ball remained close to Erica and didn’t move. “Penny, they are very worried about your safety and they don’t deserve to be made to feel like that.” Penny continued to stare at her and then, she disappeared.
“Erica, Penny has moved five miles away from us and those creatures have all gathered around her.”
“What are they saying, Poul?”
“I have no idea but Penny is giving them a piece of her mind. Thousands of them are now moving close to her and she’s touching them.”
“Why?”
“HOW WOULD I KNOW!?! I’m just telling you what’s going on. Whatever they’re saying, they’re saying it too fast for me to understand.”
Essay said, “Poul, get us out of here.”
“YOU WILL DO NO SUCH THING!!! WE WILL NOT ABANDON HER!!” Erica screamed.
Essay flinched, “She can find us wherever we go, Erica!”
“I don’t care, Essay! We will not abandon her!” Essay stared at his wife and had an impossible decision. Does he put the safety of the ship ahead of Erica’s demands or not.
Poul said, “Essay? You’re in command.”
Erica looked at Essay with narrowed eyes and he knew this was a turning point in their marriage. “Erica, they can come through our force field.”
“We will not leave her!”
“Essay?” Poul asked again.
Essay almost ordered Poul to carry out his order but remembered at that moment that Penny had healed his father. “Belay the order. We will stay here.” Erica went into his arms and started crying.
He held her close and heard Poul say, “The creatures still close us have told the others what just happened.” Essay didn’t care. He held Erica close and closed his eyes. Penny was worth dying for.
• • •
An hour later, they sat in their chairs and watched the thousands of space creatures moving slowly around their hull; some of them were larger than the ship. Poul said, “They’re leaving!” They looked out of the viewport and saw the massive cloud of brown creatures suddenly disappear. “They’ve all left.”
Erica sighed and wiped her eyes with a cloth she kept in her console. Essay looked at her and Erica shrugged, “I keep it to clean my visor.” Suddenly, Erica screamed as she felt a familiar bump on her boot. She snatched Penny off the floor and spun a circle hugging her tightly. Essay smiled…until…he saw three small disk shaped creatures appear against the wall.
“What the…”
Erica walked toward the small disks and they backed away from her. She stopped and looked at Penny who was staring at Erica. “What’s going on, Penny?” Penny’s eye revolved around the top edge and looked at the three baby space creatures and then moved back to her. Erica looked at Kamela who said, “Don’t look at me. I have no idea why they’re here.”
“How many people have touched Penny?” Poul asked.
The three looked at the wall speaker and Erica said, “What?”
“I asked how many people have touched Penny.”
Essay answered, “Well, we obviously have. So has Timmy and my father also touched her.”
“Is that all?”
Erica shook her head, “No, Admiral Hart touched Penny just before we left for this mission.”
Essay’s head went back, “She did?”
“Yes, it was while the stores were being taken on board.”
Essay looked up, “Why do you ask, Poul?”
“I sense these babies are here for a reason other than being with any of you.”
Erica looked at Essay, “How do we make that determination.”
Kamela smiled, “I hope you saw that the adult creatures all gathered around Penny and touched her. I think that is how they pass information between each other. If someone touches Penny, I suspect she also gathers information about them. Perhaps these three liked what they saw and want to bond with the three that touched her.”
Essay sighed, “Power up the Other Space Communicator, Poul.”
“What are you going to do? You know the Colonies are forbidden from sending outgoing communications.”
“I know, Erica. But they can hear.”
“Communicator operational,” Poul announced.
Essay began speaking…
• • •
Steve sat in his office and his wrist unit vibrated. His eyes narrowed, not many people had his personal frequency. He looked at it and saw Essay. “Dad, I know that we’re not supposed to communicate unless something critical is happening.” Steve’s heart almost stopped. “We have just been confronted by Penny’s species and it does appear that the issue has been resolved peacefully…” Steve blew out a breath and sat back. “…but another issue has arisen. There are three small disks on the Eyes that look exactly like Penny. We’re not certain about why they’re here but Poul has suggested that they might be here to bond with one of the people that touched Penny. The only way to find out is to check and see. If you are willing to accept one of these creatures into your household, I want you to say out loud, ‘Come to me, now!”’ You need to think about this, Penny requires a lot of rubbing.”
• • •
Essay stopped talking and they turned to the three disks against the back wall. Erica said, “Do you think he heard us?”
“He heard us.”
“What if he said it and these babies ignored it.”
“Well…” Suddenly, one of the small disks disappeared. “I guess we have our answer. Why don’t you contact Admiral Hart and tell her to contact Timmy and tell him what’s going on?”
Erica looked up, “Do you have Amy’s personal frequency, Poul?”
“I do.”
“Make the connection.”
“Connection made, go ahead.”
Erica began speaking and after a few minutes ended the call. They sat and waited for an hour but the two copper colored disks remained where they were. Essay looked up, “Poul we need to continue our mission. I want to go toward the galaxy that line of warships came from and confronted the Flasher Fleet.” Suddenly, the two small disks disappeared.
“Did they…”
“I have no idea, Erica. Poul, start us moving.” Essay looked at Penny, “Welcome back.” Penny shivered and ran over to Essay’s feet. He picked her up and put her in his lap as he sat down on his chair. Penny was more than she appeared. He originally thought Penny had followed the route they had taken back to the Milky Way. But after thinking about it, she probably went through normal space, or subspace, or whatever place she moved. The interesting thing was that she was a hundred billion light years from Erica when she answered her summons. Her species was something beyond imagination. But why did Penny insist on staying?
“Essay.”
“Yes, Kamela.”
“If the line of Flasher Warships is still out in intergalactic space, I’d like to stop long enough to listen to their thoughts. I’m going to have to block my telepathy from the other aliens and our best opportunity to find out what’s going on is to listen to the Flashers.”
“Poul, if the Flasher Warships are still out there, stop where Kamela can listen to them.”
“Will do.” Essay sat back and watched the tactical monitor. The stardrive was at high frequency so he knew it wasn’t going to take long. He glanced at Erica and saw Penny had walked over to her chair and was on the deck beside her. The soft hum showed she was happy.